Guarlford History Group

Three Poems by Ernest Edward Jackson

"Our District Nurse"

(written in 1995 & dedicated to the memory of
Nurse Bingham, District Nurse for Guarlford)

She was our District Nurse

In uniform of blue.

She nursed them all,

The young and old,

Brought the babes

When they were due.

Nurse drove a little Austin car,

Along the lanes it purred,

In early morn before the sun

And sometimes through the night.

A smile and wave

To all she passed,

She knew each one by sight;

For she had nursed her little flock

Through measles, chills and chicken pox,

Had sat for hours with aged ones,

Until they closed their eyes.

She bandaged sores, brought medicines,

Eased the aching limbs.

She watched them grow, her family,

And brought their children too.

The wave, the smile is still the same,

Hair now snowy white.

Eyes dimmer than before,

But still she knows each one by name,

And as her life draws to its end,

We know we've lost a well-loved friend.

Now sometimes on a starry night,

When all is still and quiet -

Just wait a little while…

A ghostly Austin car purrs by.

It's "Our Nurse" with a wave and smile.

"The Jack Pit Lane - a childhood fear"

(Younger village children didn't like to walk down Jack Pit Lane
which runs between Hall Green and Chance Lane and where it was rumoured a witch lived amongst the
shadows.)

In daylight glare, no sunshine there,

Just towering elms, an
overpass,

A narrow path through dank raw grass,

Prickly thick-set
hawthorn hedge.

Straggly bush of brambles hide

Deep ditch with
rotting compost laid,

Winter filled 'a witches' brew'.

No springtime
flowers showing through the gloom,

In summertime a dogrose bloom

Pushed its head to find the light,

And children, petrified with
fright,

Hurried through with scurrying feet,

In case a ghostly
goblin meet

At the end of 'Deep Jack Pit',

Where the evil witch did
sit.

"Guarlford Church Bell"

(In past times church attendance was much higher,
as in many villages. The Rector had only St Mary's parish to care
for, and a Sunday School met in the Church every week. Guarlford
National School stood next to the Church. When the Church west wall
was rebuilt in 1906 to incorporate new stained glass windows, the
bell tower was deemed to be unsafe, and the Church bell was placed
in a tree near the Church door - as a 'temporary measure'. It hangs
there still.)